Forefoot striking is the more efficient way to run.
For some, yes. For others, no. Do I know why? Nope. I leave that to the many fine folks out there with degrees in exercise physiology. What I do know is that there are far too many elite runners who have run really fast with their little elite heels hitting the ground first for that to be true. When someone is truly at the top, and I mean world record, Olympic champion kind of top, you have to assume that they are doing most things pretty close to perfectly. If heel striking really slowed you down even 1%, no one would do it. For an elite marathoner, 1% means more than a minute of improvement, and the difference between 4-5 digit appearance fees and 6 digit ones. Although there are a slew of examples available to show that elite runners heel strike pretty frequently (including the current American record holder in the marathon), the one I keep coming back to is Alberto Salazar. In 1980 Salazar DEBUTED at the New York marathon - not an easy course - in 2:09:43. The following year he would run 2:08:13, although the mismeasured course was 150 meters (or about 30 seconds) short. Salazar, in an unrabbited race, on what is universally known to be a slow course, with a textbook heel strike, ran faster than all but TWO Americans have ever run on ANY course. Ever. Only one American has won New York since that time three decades ago, and he is a heel striker as well.
Alberto Salazar is to the far right heel striking it up
Barefoot running is some sort of universal cure for running ills.
Personally I think barefoot running is awesome. I would in fact hazard a guess that nearly every serious runner out there enjoys a good barefoot cooldown around the infield after a hard workout or race. But when I see some guy out running on asphalt in his bare feet (or in Vibram’s or whatever), I have to grimace. I do think there’s something to the idea of working the muscles in our feet and lower legs that can be neglected when wearing more supportive shoes, but when you compare the rewards of focusing on doing good training with the rewards of focusing on running “naturally” (whatever the hell that means), it’s pretty obvious which one gets you more bang for your buck. And unfortunately this barefoot craze also ties into point #1 about believing a certain foot strike is the most important thing in the world. As mentioned above, it isn’t. And those little muscles in your lower legs and feet that barefoot running works out so much? Put on a pair of racing flats, do a good hard track workout, and I guarantee you they’ll get stronger from that too.
Changing how you run can’t be that hard, right?
If you truly want to jump on the barefoot/forefoot/whatever bandwagon, and successfully change your habitual running form, you had better be prepared for some work. Changing your form is not thinking about how you land while doing strides twice a week. You will need to:
1. Drastically reduce your workload until your body can adapt to different stresses.
2. Accept that you are intentionally harming your short term performance (mainly due to #1)
3. Focus on using the new form ALL of the time. My bet is that a coach, filming yourself running, and other things like that are an absolute necessity to make a switch.
4. Accept that you are in all likelihood embracing a higher risk of injury. With the exception of people who are already chronically injured, the way you run now is how your body has adapted to doing it. Changing that is no different than moving to a different country and finding out you have no immunity to local diseases.
And finally, a caveat
This is not to say that there aren’t beginning runners, as well as the rare collegiate athlete, who simply has atrocious form that needs to be fixed. It’s more to give a realistic view of the reality of these issues, so that we can all give better answers to our co-workers when they come asking. Because you know they will.
You have a heel strike
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